In 2006 the social networking service (SNS) website Twitter was launched and quickly became the most popular website of the century. This is because :
1) the messages are limited to 140 characters,
2) the user’s messages, “tweets”, are available to all Twitter users and are searchable,
3) the text-based platform makes it accessible on low-bandwidth devices.
It is seen by many users as the ideal platform to attract a significant numbers of followers in an extremely short time frame. Unlike the other more traditional communication channels, there is however no theory to guide the marketer on how to have the greatest impact.
Our lecturer gave us an exercise to discuss the components of a successful Twitter account, as part of our class after doing a case study on the success of Justin Halpern’s $#*! My Dad Says, which started as a Twitter account.
So from the combined effort of 25 marketing students, these are ones we identified as key:
Bio
Great, you have a Twitter account. Write a bio to tell the people out there searching who you are and what you do. It’s only two sentences.
Humor
People want to read and share things that are entertaining, fun and light.
Content
The most attractive content is based on real-life situations, it comforts people to know others share their experiences. Keep the content relevant to the account, be aware of the platform you have and what your followers are expecting.
Authenticity
The people reading your feed like it for a reason, be real and don’t force it or try to be someone else.
Regular updates
If you constantly tweet and give your followers new content it keeps them coming back. Be aware of current trends and what is happening, know how to incorporate this into your content/feeds.
Responsiveness
It’s called social networking for a reason, so reply to your followers, engage with them and let them know there is a real person behind that twitter handle.
Hashtags
Yes the #hashtag! This actually a useful keyword link that helps users search for content, but please use ones that are relevant and DON’T overuse it!
Larger online presence
Having an on-line presence means being involved in multiple social network platforms. Twitter is great but the 140 character limit is not going to sustain your followers for long, start a blog, join Google+.
Happy tweeting!
Love | Create | Be 